Antique Tractor Club drives in the best to this year's fair

The club is set to host its own antique tractor show the weekend of Aug. 21.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BAZETTA -- Wally Yeager turns the hand crank two or three times, causing his gray-and-red 1922 Wallis tractor to sputter, and then rumble to life.
"It's unique. It's been in my neighborhood for years," said Yeager, of Burghill, as the tractor roared and popped behind him.
Yeager said the tractor was in pieces when he bought it for $350 at a neighbor's yard sale in the mid-1990s. He spent three years and $2,000 putting it back together.
This weekend, Yeager's 1922 Wallis is in the front row of the tractor show at the Trumbull County Fair. It's the oldest antique tractor in the show, and is next to the historical village and the Civil War encampment.
Yeager is one of about 150-200 members of the Antique Tractor Club of Trumbull County, which has several antique tractors in the show. The club, formerly known as the Trumbull County Antique Steam and Power Association, marks its 10th anniversary this year.
About the club
Club members Les Shelar of Niles and Jim Stowers of Johnston Township said those involved with the club typically enjoy rebuilding and reconstructing tractors as well as learning about tractor history. Club members meet monthly to discuss their tractors and the history of tractor manufacturers.
"By joining a club like this, you learn things you wouldn't otherwise know," Stowers said. He added that when it comes to tractors, "the older they are, the better they are for me."
Pat Sutliff, a former dairy farmer from Johnston Township, said he enjoys being a member of the club because it gives him the opportunity to see many of the tractors he drove over the years.
"One thing I know how to do" is drive tractors, Sutliff said. "I've driven so many."
Club meetings take place the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Ali Baba Grotto on Perkins-Jones Road Northeast in Bazetta Township. The club also attends tractor shows and holds its own show at the Grotto on the third weekend in August.
Membership
When it comes to the club, "10 bucks and a tractor and you're in," Stowers said. Shelar also said club members are friends who like to tease each other.
"You can't be thin-skinned," Stowers said. Shelar added, "We fight about the colors of different tractors. I think green and yellow are ugly."
Club members noted that there are several different places to buy antique tractors. "It might be sitting out in a field with weeds around it," Shelar said.
Stowers said he owns a 1930 Worthington tractor that he bought in Philadelphia. The tractor had been constructed with many of the same parts as a Ford Model A classic car and used on golf courses, Stowers said.
When he bought the tractor, it was in a yard and had a tree growing through the middle of it, he said.
Stowers said he rebuilt the tractor with parts from a Model A as well as parts he made himself. Yeager said he also had to rebuild his Wallis tractor with some parts he made himself, as replacement parts for the 82-year-old tractor are no longer being manufactured.
Club members also stressed that not all antique tractor enthusiasts are farmers. Yeager and Shelar are retired steel mill employees, while Stowers is retired from General Motors Lordstown.
hill@vindy.com